A man accused of groping a woman’s thigh after being let out of prison early told a court he was “trying his luck” and “testing the waters”.
Amari Ward “categorically” denies he sexually assaulted the complainant outside Sittingbourne Railway Station on September 10 last year.
The 31-year-old took to the stand today (February 26) to give evidence on the second day of his trial at Maidstone Crown Court.
The jury previously heard that the defendant is said to have made several comments of a sexual nature in the moments leading up to the alleged touching.
He is said to have told the woman, who was driving him to the station, he “needed a b*** j**” and asked her if she had made a “porn movie” and if she wanted to with him.
Giving evidence yesterday (February 25), the complainant said she told him no and that the questions were “inappropriate”.
Today, Ward did not dispute that he had asked her questions of a sexual nature within minutes of meeting her and getting in the car and said her response to them was “no”.
However, he claims that she never told him that they were “inappropriate” and he believed they were acceptable to ask saying, “I wanted to see how far I could get”.
He added: “I was flirting with her. I was trying my luck. She did not give me any reason to believe that I could not ask.”
The dad-of-one reportedly put his hand high on her left thigh near her groin when they arrived at the station in St Michael’s Road but she pushed him off.
He is then said to have touched her a second time but was again pushed away and punched in the face by the alleged victim.
Ward admitted he did place his hand on the woman’s leg but said he only did so once, that it was just above her knee and was not in a sexual way. He also said she did not punch him.
He told the court: “I was testing the waters and saying thank you at the same time for the ride. We had been flirting and she had not shut me down.”
He said she slapped his hand away “playfully” and he believed she did not give him any reasons to think he could not touch her.
When questioned by prosecutor Trevor Wright about whether he was still “trying his luck” when he touched the woman, Ward laughed on the stand.
Ward maintains that he did not touch the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sexually and that he had consent.
The court also heard that when he was told of the accusations by the custody officer following his arrest in Croydon he “openly laughed”.
When asked about his reaction, he said: “I thought it was ridiculous, the whole allegation. The part that made me laugh the most was when they said she had punched me in the face because it did not happen.”
In his closing speech, Ward’s lawyer Tommy Seagull said this was a case of “flirting gone wrong” where his client “pushed the boundaries” when it was not the place nor time.
He added: “It was a man testing the waters maybe not in the most conventional way or the way you would do it or the way you would want someone else to do it.
“It was harmless flirting. You have to read the signals, the vibe, and that is what he did.”
Addressing the jury, Mr Wright questioned whether it was normal to speak to a “complete stranger” about intimate, sexual activity and explicit films.
He said: “We have a man who does not know a woman, who he has never met or spoken to and starts talking about oral, sexual activity. He was ‘testing the waters’.
“He thinks in a matter of minutes he can have a conversation with someone he does not know about such extraordinary intimacy.
“She makes it clear to him that she finds his conversation completely unacceptable. The one thing this man has no concept of is rejection.”
The jury has not been told why Ward was previously jailed but heard he was on early release as part of the government scheme.
The trial, which is presided over by recorder David Wood, continues.
